The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that crypto assets, like bitcoin, are privately issued with substantial risks, and “Making them equivalent to a national currency is an inadvisable shortcut.” The crypto community disagrees.
The International Monetary Fund tweeted about crypto assets on Saturday, asserting that they are privately issued, come with substantial risks, and are inadvisable for use as legal tender. The IMF wrote: “Privately issued cryptoassets like bitcoin come with substantial risks. Making them equivalent to a national currency is an inadvisable shortcut.”
The IMF’s tweet references a blog post written on July 26 by two of its legal counsels, as Bitcoin.com News previously reported. In the blog post, titled “Cryptoassets as National Currency? A Step Too Far,” the authors warned of the risks of making bitcoin legal tender as El Salvador did. One of the concerns mentioned was that “monetary policy would lose bite,” since “Central banks cannot set interest rates on a foreign currency.”
Many people on social media mocked the IMF for calling bitcoin “privately issued.” One Twitter user pointed out that the IMF is “framing BTC (a public, open-source protocol) as a ‘privately issued’ asset to discredit its legitimacy over national currencies, which are actually privately issued.”
Some argued that fiat currencies come with more “substantial risks” than bitcoin. “Government-issued fiat assets like the U.S. dollar come with substantial risks. Especially when they are loaned out by intergovernmental organizations with a history of bankrupting countries,” one Twitter user opined.
Noting that bitcoin and crypto are competing as an international reserve asset, a third Twitter user described:
The IMF is getting nervous because companies and individuals are diversifying their wealth into bitcoin and cryptocurrencies instead of their special drawing rights (SDR).
Some people stated that the IMF is becoming an irrelevant organization. DTAP Capital founder Dan Tapiero predicted: “The IMF won’t exist within 10 years.”
What do you think about the IMF’s statement on bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.